Both this year's current presidential front-runners say they have shrugged off Washington lobbyists and embraced public financing of political campaigns. We look at McCain and Obama and compare their rhetoric with their records. Also, the latest suicide bombing kills kills a Pakistani Army General, and the New York Philharmonic in North Korea.

FROM THIS EPISODE

Both this year's current presidential front-runners say they have shrugged off Washington lobbyists and embraced public financing of political campaigns. We look at McCain and Obama and compare their rhetoric with their records. Also, the latest suicide bombing kills kills a Pakistani Army General, and the New York Philharmonic will be playing tomorrow in Pyong Yang, North Korea, despite its image as the most closed country on earth. We hear from an American who's been there 25 times.

The surgeon general of Pakistan's Army was killed by a suicide bomber today as his car waited at a busy intersection in a commercial neighborhood of Rawalpindi. At least four others were killed and 25 wounded. Zahid Hussain is in Islmabad for the Wall Street Journal.

Guests:Zahid Hussain, Journalist, Wall Street Journal and London Times

"Maybe I've lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be. You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear." That's according to Hillary Clinton, referring directly to fellow Democrat Barack Obama, but her comments could apply just as well to Republican John McCain. Both leaders in this year's presidential nomination battles have denounced lobbyists and claim to have embraced public financing for political campaigns. But McCain's campaign manager and his chief political advisor are lobbyists and Obama uses lobbyists as consultants, and both take money directly from corporations and unions that employ lobbyists on Capitol Hill. How far have the two presidential front-runners distanced themselves from business as usual in Washington and on the campaign trail?

The Star Spangled Banner, An American in Paris and Dvorak's Symphony from the New World are all on the New York Philharmonic's playlist. While there's nothing odd about that, what will astonish many Americans is that the concert will take place in Pyongyang. Kim Jong Il's North Korea is often called the most closed society in the world, where children are taught from birth that the US is an enemy. Nevertheless, the New York Philharmonic will play musical tributes to the American spirit in a live concert broadcast on national TV. Bob Carlin, a former diplomat who negotiated with North Korea during the 1990's, has more on the unprecedented event scheduled to take place tomorrow.